Mango Bango

Mango Bango is a sweet and creamy Filipino dessert made with sago, coconut jelly and fresh fruit.

I have a deep love for Asian desserts. Partly because of my own cultural heritage, but also because there is nothing quite like them. They are usually made up of few ingredients, and combine a variety of flavours and textures all in the one dish. I find myself craving the flavours of tropical fruits, pandan, coconut, taro, ube, palm sugar. They remind me of my mum.

I am most familiar with Chinese and Cantonese desserts, however lately I've been interested in exploring more Filipino cuisine. While accessing ingredients may have once been more difficult, Asian supermarkets have popped up everywhere, and the large, popular grocery stores have quite an impressive collection of Asian ingredients available on the shelves.

An easy summertime dessert

Mango Bango is an incredibly simple recipe, perfect for entertaining because you can prepare it the night before. Full of fresh, tropical flavours, it boast a warm summer evening in every mouthful. It can be easily adapted to cater for dietary requirements. Swap the evaporated and condensed milk for coconut varieties, now readily available at your local supermarket. If you cannot find a dairy-free condensed milk, you could omit this ingredient and use agave syrup or a simple syrup for sweetness.

Mango Bango vs Mango Sago

You may have seen both names floating around, but what is the difference between these two desserts? From my research, these two desserts are very similar, the latter being a Cantonese dessert. Mango Bango contains coconut jelly, whereas Mango Sago doesn't appear to, and is made with coconut milk and condensed milk, rather than evaporated milk. Many recipes for the sago also blend fresh fruit into the liquid, yielding a golden coloured dessert. Anyway, both are delicious, both are worth making!

Here is my recipe for Mango Bango. This is a Filipino dessert, creamy, sweet and refreshing. Preparation is incredibly simple. All one needs to do is combine the ingredients together in a bowl, cover and place into the fridge. After a few hours, you've got the most delicious dessert ready to be served. It's summer here in Australia, and mangoes are in season for a few more weeks. They work so well in this dessert, providing a sweet, floral flavour that complements the creaminess of the evaporated and condensed milks.

Watch the video here. If you make this one, tag me on Instagram or TikTok. I love to see it!

P.S A little BONUS recipe! I had a comment on my original Mango Bango reel that said it is epic frozen. So I froze the mixture into pops and there were indeed epic. Highly recommend. See me do that here.

Mango Bango

Mango Bango is a sweet and creamy Filipino dessert made with tapioca pearls, coconut jelly and fresh fruit.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Filipino

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 -6 serves

Author: Andrea

Ingredients

• ¼ c dried sago
• 2 c mango cut into cubes (approximately 1 large mango, or 2 medium)
• ½ c nata de coco coconut jelly
• 2-3 tablespoon condensed milk
• 1.5 c 385mL evaporated milk

Instructions

• Prepare sago: in a small saucepan, bring water to a rolling boil. Add dried sago pearls. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat, cover and leave to sit for 15 minutes.
• Once cooked through, strain and set aside to cool.
• In a bowl, combine diced mangoes, cooked sago, nata de coco, evaporated milk and condensed milk. Stir well.
• Cover and place in the fridge for at least two hours to chill. Serve cold.

Looking for more easy desserts? Try my coconut rice pudding or chocolate blueberry brownies.